'Aquí todo el mundo hablaba español': History of the Spanish language in Tangier

The quotation in the title of this article, recorded during an informal conversation with an old Tangerine Spaniard, illustrates a widely extended belief both in Morocco and Spain that Spanish has been a common language in Tangier for centuries. While it is true that in Tangier, and throughout all northern Morocco, the existence of the Spanish language is evident in the form of lexical borrowings in local Arabic varieties and in varying degrees of competence by many Moroccans, there are not any studies that explore its exact historical antecedents. The situation there tends to be confused with what happened in Ceuta, Melilla or even Tetouan, while, as this article will argue, the history of the Spanish language in Tangier has been closely interwoven with the complex and unique history of the city. The ultimate objective of the study is to analyse this linguistic presence both diachronically and synchronically and answer the question of whether the type of Spanish competence that exists today in Tangier is a result of history or of present geo-economic factors.